Kilian
Masculine · “most likely from Old Irish cell”
Kilian is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,690 boys against 27 girls since 1880.
An Irish name that made its home in Germany: the seventh-century missionary Cillian traveled from Ireland to Franconia, and the cathedral in Würzburg still bears his name in its German spelling, Kilian. So this single-L form has been said in German, French and Spanish mouths for centuries before it reached American records. Three syllables, all of them soft, ending on the same -ian that Julian and Adrian share.
How old is the name Kilian?
Kilian first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Kilian is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,700 people named Kilian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kilian most popular?
Kilian peaked in 2023, reaching #1031 nationally. Today it ranks #1166, 135 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cillian to Kilian
The story of Kilian
The name begins in Ireland as Cillian and leaves it early. An Irish monk of that name preached in Franconia in the seventh century and was killed at Würzburg around 689; he became the patron of the city and of the diocese, and his feast is still kept there in July. German speakers wrote him as Kilian, and the name settled into Bavarian and Franconian use so thoroughly that it reads as a German name to many Europeans. The Irish spelling Cillian and the French Killian came back into wider use much later, which is why three spellings of one name now circulate side by side.
Meaningscholars disagree
most likely from Old Irish cell, 'church'
The usual reading traces it to Old Irish cell (church, monastic cell), giving a sense of 'of the church'. A competing line connects it to the Old Irish element ceall/cellach found in names like Cellach. Neither has fully won out, and the name is old enough that the earliest form is hard to recover.
How the name formed
- Cillian
- Kilian
- Killian
Related forms: Cillian · Kilian · Killian · Kilián · Kiliaan · Kilián
Pronouncing Kilian
KIL-ee-un
American English usually gives it KIL-ee-un, the same opening as Cillian and Killian. German speakers say KEE-lee-ahn, with a long first vowel; French speakers stress the last syllable, kee-LYAHN. Any of these will be understood as the same name.
Nicknames for Kilian
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 2023212 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1031reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −15.3%177 in 2025, from 209
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Kilian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cillian in Irish — same name
- Kilian in German — same name
- Killian in French — spelling variant
- Kilián in Hungarian — same name
- Kiliaan in Dutch — spelling variant
- Kilián in Czech — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kilians among us
people named Kilian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 9,650 born in 2025 was named Kilian
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kilian
- #1166
- Kilian on the 2025 chart
- #246
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kilian went to 177 boys in 2025, but Killian, Kylian and Kyllian and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,428, which makes it the 246th most-given boys’ name of the year — 920 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 1,196 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 9,650 for Kilian itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jakub test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kilian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jakub climbed just as high around 2008, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jakub's path sketches the road Kilian is walking now.
Kilian sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Kilian is headed
Kilian looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 15% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Kilian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kilian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Documented in continuous use since the seventh century, with a patron saint and a cathedral attached to it.
- Works unchanged or nearly unchanged in German, Hungarian, Czech, Spanish and Catalan — useful in a family that crosses languages.
- Familiar enough through Cillian and Killian that no one has to be taught how to say it.
- Rare enough in the US that a child is unlikely to share it in a classroom, while still being a name people recognize.
- The spelling is the hard part. Killian and Cillian are both in use, and Kilian with one L will be corrected, doubled and re-spelled for life. Worth deciding now whether you will keep gently fixing it or let it slide.
- The first syllable sounds like the English word 'kill', which some children notice and a few will use. It passes quickly, but it is fair to know in advance.
- In the US this is a recent arrival rather than an inherited name, so most people carrying it here are children — older relatives may reach for Killian or Cillian first.
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Kilian
Masculine · #1166 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kilians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Kilian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kilian?
- Kilian is one of 5 recorded spellings. Killian is the more common one — 770 births in 2025 against 177 for Kilian.
- How popular is the name Kilian in 2025?
- Kilian ranks #1166 among US boy names in 2025, with 177 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kilian?
- About 1 in every 9,650 US boys born in 2025 was named Kilian — 177 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kilian with classmates?
- Kilian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kilian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Denzel#1166 · Lux#1166 · Rafe#1165 · Korbin#1169 · Benaiah#1169 · Mikael#1169 · Jean#1169 · Eythan#1169
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kilian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kilian and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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